Classical Gas is an independent web site and is not affiliated
to any of the clubs or organisers of the events featured. Words and Pictures
by Michael unless attributed otherwise. Michael is a proud member of the MCC,
ACTC, Dellow Register and Falcon amongst others, but does not represent their
views nor the views of any other organisers or clubs.

Golds hard to come by on surprisingly
competitive Edinburgh.

With most of the events signature sections
gone the organisers were saved by the weather on this years Edinburgh
Trial. Several months of dry weather ended with a deluge on the early
hours of Saturday morning, enlivening the conditions and making Calton and
Excelsior particularly competitive.

Dave Cooks wonderfully atmospheric
picture of Julian Lack rounding the tight corner leading to the deviation
for the higher classes on Cliff Quarry (Picture by Dave Cook)

Starting out from the soulless
M42 Services the 194 starters, with surprisingly few in Classes 1 and 2,
diverted along the route amendment up the A38 to the outskirts of Derby
before entering Ashbourne on the A52 instead of the usual A515. This
confused some of the navigators as they didn't pick the correct place to
re-enter the original route card.

Carsington Water

Robin Barlow was in charge here
with a radio link to the first section. With ample parking he was able to
despatch competitors according to the number queuing on the road before
the access track.

Haven
Hill

Veteran Reg Taylor was on the
start line on the first section. He managed to remain dry for main trial
competitors but had to don his wet weather gear as the Class 0 competitors
appeared. With no restart this year and a bone dry section everyone went
clear.

Cliff
Quarry

.

Kevin and Sam
Lindsay about to tackle the higher class deviation. They were to
retire shortly afterwards with fuel feed problems.
(Picture by Dave Cook)

Lee Sample and Matt
Robson had clutch issues on the restart. It was fixed with a bit of
adjustment and they went on to finish the event.
(Picture by Dave Cook)

It was still dark when the
first competitors arrived at Cliff Quarry and later numbers had to cope
with the rain that started to fall around 6am. Everyone had to do a
restart with the higher classes having to deviate around a tricky corner
which was particularly Marlin unfriendly, seven of them failing, including
father and son Tony and Hal Branson. Most of the non-deviators in the main
trial went clean but the experienced Greg Warren was a notable exception.

The restart area wasn't very
muddy, despite the rain, but it still took numerous class 0 scalps
including the two French competitors who produced a very nice Video of
their adventure.

Going back to Marlins. Kevin
Lindsay was having fuel problems with MGB engined car. He couldn't fix
them and had to retire.

Deep Rake
(Class 0 only)

Dawn had broken for competitors
in Class 0 when they arrived at Deep Rake where Ford Pop stalwarts Nigel
Hilling and David Child were in charge of a compact section, with a
restart on some loose stones.

This proved challenging for the
less experienced and around a third couldn't get away. These included Lee
Sample who found the clutch wouldn't bite properly on his Rickman Ranger,
which has had a new engine since the Lands End.. He adjusted it after the
hill and it didn't give any more trouble. The trial was notable for the
number of restarts for Class 0, with no less than seven on the schedule

Deep Rake
Observed Test

This followed the familiar
route although there was no water splash this year. Not just because of
the dry summer but also because the hole had been filled in. There was a
delay towards the end of the trial as a local claiming to be the Land
Owner arrived saying the club didn't have his permission to use the land.
Fortunately the MCC officials sorted the situation to allow the trial to
continue but it remains to be seen if there are any repercussions.

There were very few penalties
on the test but they included the two French competitors, maybe the hadn't
yet come to terms with an MCC route card!

Black
Harry

Still within the Deep Rake
Quarry complex Black Harry had Trojan stalwarts John Wilton and Steve
Potter in charge. They didn't trouble the MCC results team and this was
the second section on of the trial without any failures.

Haydale

Triple Editor Celia Walton was
in charge here and had needed her wet weather gear as she had caught the
worst of the rain during the sections opening hours. Everyone had to
restart but outside of Class 0 there were few penalties.

Calton

A rainy view in the
long queue for Calton where the restart was problematical for many.

With the rain and a restart for
everyone competitors knew this was going to be one of the events
significant challenges. The deep ruts on the upper reaches have long gone
but there is something special about getting away on polished limestone in
the wet!

Nobody in Classes 1 or 2 got
away from the restart. The Suzuki's in Class 5 didn't fare well. Neither
did many Marlins or Lieges or in Class 7. These included Julian Lack who
had only put his engine back in the car just before the event
but had the distributor module come loose just as he was trying to pull
away.

Unfortunately many of the
failures had problems backing up for a second try and a long queue built
up. When it was getting close to getting back to the main road the Chief
Official decided to cancel the hill for Class 0 who went straight to
breakfast at the Bull I Thorn.

Incline (Classes 0 to 5
only)

James Turner waiting
for his attempt at Incline in his Reliant Rebel.

The rain had eased when the
field went through Buxton, out on the A5004 towards Whalley Bridge,
passing the former Old Long Hill section before turning off into the Goyt
Forest for a new section called Incline. It was a smoothish forest
section. The gradient wasn't too severe but it kept rising and levelling
out which caught out the unwary. Other than Classes 1 and 2 where nobody
went clear it only caught out a few in the main trial but Steve Kingstone
lost his Gold in his MG Midget.

The section was a challenge for
Class 0 and Nev Bowers failed his first hill here. This was the last
section for Jacques Veyer in his AHS as he ran out of time and found the
following sections closed when he arrived. His colleague Denis Sautery had
retired his BMW with a holed tank at breakfast.

Corkscrew
(Classes 6,7 and 8 only)

Dave Cook had a long
walk to Corkscrew where he captured Simon and Bekki Eddy going clean
on their way to a Gold and Class D win.

The higher classes tackled the
former Jenkins Chapel, reintroduced after many years. Competitors either
loved or hated this narrow rocky track but most were appreciative of the
section after loosing so many of the other traditional hills.

Alan Spencer was the only class
8 to stop but the section took its toll in 7 and 8 including Matt Facey
who had entered his BMW saloon in Class 7 for more of a challenge!

"New"
Litton Slack

Competitors could only take sad
glances to the left at the "real" section as they tackled the gentle
grassy slope of the former escape road which had plenty of grip despite
the earlier rain.

Putwell (not for Class 0)

There were the usual two
sections. Putwell A was rough again, but there
was no restart. Higher up the track came the
resurfaced Putwell B with a restart for 6,7 and 8.

The section didn't have much
impact on the results this year although Mike Pearson had to retire when
his Dellows alternator failed. The message went back down the section to
those waiting and Emma Wall kindly donated her spare so Mike could get to
his hotel in Buxton for the evening.

Rakes Head (not for Class 0)

This little section was just up
the road from the tea and cake stop at Hollinsclough Village Hall. Classes
6,7 and 8 had to restart. This proved challenging for 6 and 7 but those
challenging for premier awards all went clear.

Excelsior

Ian
Facey didn't need the considerable ground clearance of his BMW Z3 to
clean Excelsior on his way to a Triple (Picture by Dave Cook)

Dick
Bolt puts the power down as he pulls away from the Excelsior restart
to joint Ian Facey, Stuart Roach, Emma Wall and Hans Viertel in the
2014 Triple Club (Picture by Dave Cook)

Everyone had to restart and
with the box on a sharp corner on slippery limestone rock it was going to
be a challenge.

The section certainly took its
toll on the score sheet especially in 5, 6 and 7. It was interesting that
not only did everyone in Class 4 go clear but they all maintained their
clean sheets at this stage of the trial.

This was probably the most
challenging section of the trial for Class 0 who had to restart like
everyone else. Only three cars (Michael Leete - Beetle, Chris Adney -
Morgan and Vic Lockley - Beetle) went clean, leaving Vic and Michael with
the only clean sheets. Failing the restart was unfortunate for Neil Bray
as it cost him a Tri0 award.

Moneystones (Class 0 only)

Exeter Trial Secretary Tim
Keeling was marshalling the start and there was a stony restart to tackle
further up the slope. It was dry and most avoided the holesbut they still caught out Brian Osborne in his MGB and Vic Lockley
who said goodbye to his Blue Hills Tin.

Clough Mine 1 (not for Class
0)

Passing the entrance to the
former Clough Wood track the lower classes had a straight run but the
higher classes has a restart towards the top. The non-re-starters
didn't have problems but getting away from the box was a problem and the
6,7 results were decimated. It also caught out
some of the class eights and Russell Clarke (Troll) and Barry
Redmayne in his 4 cylinder Suzuki engined Leige, which
now sports SU Carburation, lost their chance of gold.

Dudwood 1 (6,7 and 8 only.
No restart)

Nobody in Class Six succeeded
and only Dudley Sterry in Class 7 reached the summit. It wasn't that easy
in Class 8 where Simon Oates (Triumph Torum), Brian Partridge (Ridge
Cannon) and Bill Moffatt (Troll) all said goodbye to Gold.

Several cars
in the lower classes also attempted Dudwood 1. This attracted a WR
penalty, presumably meaning wrong route. This counted as a section failure
and both David Golightly (Ford Morton & Brett) and Kevin Sharp (Suzuki
X90) lost their chances of Gold.

Dudwood 2 (1,2,3,4 and 5
only. No restart)

Previously a Class 0 hill this
section started in the farmyard this turned into another run through the
trees with the surface turning very loose before the top. This proved a
bit much for most in Class 5. Aaron Homewood lost his gold here in his
venerable Skoda but the three Beetles in Class 4 went clear and were clean
as they went to the final observed test.

Dudwood 3 (Class 0 only)

This new section turned out to
be a grassy slope which turned out to be dry with plenty of grip and
everyone went clean.

Dudwood Observed Test

After a stop astride and
reverse this turned into a long blast along a farm track, an enjoyable way
to end the competitive part of the trial. Enjoyable that is unless you
were John Arrowsmith (Class 4 Beetle) or Dave Wall (Dellow) who were
penalised and lost their gold's here.

The Finish

Leaving the farm track
competitors passed the Cliff Quarry section (Hill 2) on the way to the
finish back at Bull I Thorn. Popular opinion was that the organisers had
done a grand job to make use of the sections that were available to them.
As it stands from the provisional results it looks like Car Triples will
go to Dick Bolt and Emma Wall, both in Escorts. Hans Viertel (Beetle) Matt
Facey BMW Z3 and Stuart Roach (HRG)